So many different things were going on this week — lots of deliveries, and some projects being completed. The stone siding is done, the metal siding continues, and the ceiling was installed on the roof of our covered deck. We also had the flooring delivered, as well as trim and stairs and handrails. It’s awesome to see the project pick up speed!

We were hauling stuff to the storage unit today, and ran up the hill to bring the lawnmower home, and were very surprised to find a crew on site working on the stone siding! They worked pretty much all day, probably to beat the heat that’s coming next week. It was awesome to see the stone going on the sides of the house, and even better to see the completed sections later in the day after another run to the unit! We even grabbed some of the rustic boards out of the box that will make up our porch wall to see how they looked — I am loving this color scheme!!!

These 2 doors were ordered last December, and we picked the stain color in January. So this has been a long time waiting! But wow, worth it!!! I was actually on the property the day they were installed, testing my work environment in the camper, so I saw the builder show up and knew it was something good. As soon as he left, I ran up there to see!!! That was Thursday; today (Friday), we arrived on site to see that they’ve started the process for putting up the stone wainscoting. There is a piece of metal mesh that goes on, then mortar on top of that. Then the stone will be mortared to that. The stone is all there so this may not take long! The board and batten siding is still going up too — you can see they have it in place around the garage door, and on both sides of the porch. The side and back of the garage is done also, but the back and side of the house is yet to be completed. Oh, and the front door is 8′ tall, so I included a picture with Darren for reference. Tall door!!!

Siding arrived on the driveway late last week, and finally today, we have our first glimpse! We wanted board & batten siding on our house, but with wood prices so high lately, the builder recommended we try something new — a metal version. Not only was it cheaper, but it is maintenance free and should last for decades. We were sold! But the longer it was since we saw the sample of the product until we saw it in crates on our driveway, the more worried we were that it would turn out looking like a pole barn. I must admit, my knuckles were white as I drove up the driveway today, wondering what we’d see. And I am so glad we have such a great builder because this is awesome!!!

Darren’s father, Larry, was a union carpenter who specialized in drywall. He worked that job his entire life, and even had a side business installing drywall in homes in the evenings and on weekends in the 60s and 70s. He did the job as long as he could, until his back finally gave out and he had to retire. Most of that side work included the textured ceilings made popular in the 70s, and he had a knack for creating decorative ceiling art. I was able to see several of these ceilings myself, and people would mention his work all around town. When he and Darren’s mom passed away, we knew that we’d see less and less of those shapes that he had created, so we decided to honor him by asking our drywall crew to recreate one of his most used shapes, a star. They finished it yesterday, and it was painted today. Here are a couple of pictures of the art that my father-in-law created in their home, and then pictures of what our crew created to honor Darren’s parents in our new house. We are extremely pleased, and cannot wait to see it fully complete!

With the drywall work inside still ongoing, the builder called in his excavators to do some outside dirt work this week. The septic tank was put in place and drain lines ran from the house to the tank. They still need to dig a trench to run from the tank to the leech field. However, the huge pile of dirt next to the house is gone — trucked down the hill to the base of the driveway to widen that area. The barn pad was leveled and is ready to be compacted so we can build the barn this summer/fall. Today they’ll probably dig that trench, and also dig a trench from the house to the site where we are going to install an outdoor wood burning furnace. We need water and electric lines ran for that. Lots going on! Oh, and we put our current house on the market this week so yeah, it’s kinda crazy around here!

The crew arrived at 8:30 this morning, and worked until 8:30 this evening. When we got there at 6, they were almost done — my guess is that they stayed until it was done! All 3 levels, fully under drywall! One guy was cleaning up so I hope they cleared all the debris out as well, but we didn’t stay very long. I didn’t want to be underfoot, or recruited! This was one of those shocking transformations, though. Seeing each room fully defined. Just an awesome sight! I have a ton of pictures below, fare warning.

As we suspected, it looks like the next project will be drywall. We saw the delivery truck go up the hill this afternoon, so we ran out after dinner to see what it delivered. In every room of the house is now a stack of drywall! Some 10 footers, some 12, and a whole stack of 16s!!! Those were the longest pieces of drywall I’ve ever seen! And we meant to pull the memory cards from the trail cams to see how they delivered the stacks — I’m pretty sure the basement stacks went in the basement outer doors. But did they use the balcony for the master bedroom stacks? If they took the 2 pieces of 16′ drywall up that staircase, I’m going to be SO impressed!

Yesterday, May 1st of 2022, I placed a time capsule in the walls of our house. Drywall will be going on soon, we think, so this was the time to get that put together and put into place. My parents did home renovations and found old things in the walls, and even placed newspapers in the walls during their own renovations. So when we saw the “chase wall” that had to be built in our master bedroom, I knew it was the perfect spot for something like that. I bought a waterproof survivor style box so no bugs or mice can get to the contents. And then stopped at the local gas station and bought current newspapers for Brown County as well as Bartholomew County. I also placed an Aldi ad in the box. I printed out pictures of the property as it was when we bought it (overgrown and trash filled!), the most recent picture of the house in progress, as well as a recent picture of the 5 of us Neeleys. Then I printed out a picture of each one of the kids to tuck in the box. I included a dollar bill, 4 coins, some trinkets, and a note about finding this website for the full house and land story. Who knows if this blog will still be around in 10, 20, 50 years, but if you are reading this from the future, having found our box and story and pictures, welcome! I hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far and pictures of all the work. I hope there are many years ahead for us on Brown Hill Road.

We weren’t expecting the garage door to go up so quickly, but they drove up the hill today and installed our door! I was really surprised but very pleased by how it looks! It appears that the insulation is done as well, all except the blown in cellulose material that will cover the ceilings in the 2nd floor and main level (where there isn’t a floor above it).